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Message Posted: Fri, 02 Jun 2006 @ 14:38:08 GMT

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As Michael mentioned, DATA produces raw data in machine-readable form. To be exact, it is not "in hexadecimal". Hex is just a way of expressing exactly which bits are in a file. *Every* file is "in hexadecimal" if you want to express it that way. Take, for instance, the string 'ABC' in ASCII. The actual bits are '010000010100001001000011'; we express this in characters as 'ABC' or in hex as '414243'xc. The integer 5 in a REPORT file will appear as the character '5' (in hex, '35'xc), but a small integer 5 in a DATA file will appear as x'0005' (or x'0500' in little- endian).

Those who are unclear on these concepts may find the Unix utility 'od' (octal dump) helpful.

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